Army Flipl

AR 735-5 policies and procedures for property accountability

A Financial Liability Investigation of Property Loss is the procedure that the Army uses to recover the property lost by Soldiers. Under Army Regulation 735-5, financial liability ordinarily will not exceed one month’s base pay. In certain cases, however, such as the loss of personal arms or equipment, or damage to Government housing, a Soldier can be held liable for the entire loss.

A FLIPL is not required in every situation where there is a loss or damage. If the loss is less than one month’s base pay, the command may ask the responsible individual to sign a DD Form 362, Statement of Charges/Cash Collection Voucher. This form is an admission of liability for the lost property and an agreement to pay for it. The command cannot order a Soldier to sign the statement. The Army uses FLIPLs in situations where responsibility for the loss is in question, or where the amount to be charged is in dispute.

The FLIPL process starts when the appointing authority (usually a battalion commander) appoints a financial liability officer to investigate. The FLO’s job is to determine who caused the property loss. Once the FLO determines liability against a Soldier, the Soldier has seven days to submit a rebuttal explaining why holding the Soldier liable is not appropriate based on the standards for FLIPLs.

The FLO will consider the Soldier’s rebuttal, and make a recommendation about who should be held liable and in what amount. The appointing authority reviews the FLIPL, reviews the report by the FLO and determines whether or not to assess liability to the Soldier. The appointing authority then forwards the FLIPL to the approving authority. The approving authority approves or disapproves the FLO’s recommendation.

Now that you know what it is, you should also know a few ways to avoid being the subject of a FLIPL. First, inventory properly, this means for serial numbered items actually check serial numbers and...